8 May 2017 - Week 80 Talladega SuperSpeedway!

Soo Tuesday/Wednesday, we did an exchange up in Birmingham. I got to spend the 24 hours with one of my fave missionaries, Elder Galvez who's from Guatemala! Then we got back home about 8:00 wed night, then even though i was dead tired, i had to grind it out and prepare for district meeting and figure what I was going to talk about and train on. Then Thursday morning, we had district meeting up in Talladega. The branch mission leader in Talladega is awesome!! He wanted us to come over and have district meeting over at his house and he and his awesome wife cooked a bomb breakfast for us! (German pancakes, buttermilk syrup, a whole spread!) Then we had district meeting, I somehow compared djing to missionary work and some how did it for a long time lol but hopefully District meeting went well. One of the missionaries said it was the coolest training he had ever heard! lol  so then we ended up staying up in Talladega for the day because Brother Cote (branch mission leader) wanted us over for dinner as well so we stayed and worked up in Talladega for the day and had an awesome diner! Then one of the missionaries was talking to Sister Cote and said i was a hockey player and the conversation soon got on the topic of chiropractors lol i had said how much is sucks not having my chiro for almost 2 years and how crunchy my neck was. Sister Cote laughs and said "here". She brings out a professional massage chair (like the Chinese guys at the mall) She's a freaking massage therapist!! She works on me for like 20 min and destroys me! She finds knot after knot lol then shes like "wow your neck is really bad" so she brings out a professional massage table!! and works on my neck for another 10-15 min! uhhhh!  is was awesome!!! I love her! So then Friday we had interviews with the mission president, which went super good. Then supper at the one member that feeds us, then were off back up to Talladega. So last weekend was one of the biggest races in Nascar! Talladega SuperSpeedway! We spend all day Saturday talking to tons of people is was absolutely crazy!!! I have never seen so many rednecks in one place in my life!! and I will never come close again in my life!! It was so awesome!!! I got to hear the cars! It was just so cool!! Got to cross of a bucket list item! I wasn't as productive as a missionary as i would have liked, but i was able to give away one book of Mormon!! She wasn't exactly sober.... but i think there's a chance she will read it! It would be awesome if she did! Ahhh it was just an awesome experience overall!! Love everyone and thanks!! - Elder John Gilbert

17 April, 24 April, & 1 May 2017 - Weeks 77, 78, & 79

Crazy few weeks! 

So there is this member in Talledega that makes knives! So we got to go up there and make some knives of our own! Super cool!! And he had the coolest dog ever!! He is like my fav dog ever!! (We won't tell Buddy :P) His name is RED and he's the coolest wiener dog ever!!! haha but anyway, Christy was baptized this past week!!! We are super proud of her! And my comp and i tried baby-food. lol And that's about all that is worth mentioning. lol 

Thanks for all the support! Love y'all!   - Elder John Gilbert

10 April 2017 - Week 76

Good week. So awesome thing happened on Wed. Kristy (the investigator that dropped us a few weeks ago) called us out of the blue and wanted to meet with us. She had recently gone to Salt Lake with her husband (a member) and they did lots of tours and even heard MT choir sing! It was a super spiritual experience for her. We were able to have a lesson with her and we invited her to be baptized. So she now has a bap date for in about 2 weeks! Other than that not much has happened this week. Oh I bashed with a preacher for a solid 2 hours. It's funny because they don't think I can hang and when I do it freaks them out. It's fun because I have more ammunition then they do. (and I'm pretty good at arguing lol) but I'm just excited to get the summer over with. Thanks for all the letters and support! -Elder John M.Gilbert

27 March & 3 April 2017 - Weeks 74 & 75

Transfer week. I am staying in Sylacauga for another transfer. My companion Elder Standifird on the other hand is leaving and going to Mississippi. I will be getting Elder Sharp. I have no idea who he is or anything. But will find out tomorrow. I'm sad to see Elder Standifird go. Today we were supposed to go hike the highest mountain in Alabama. But when we got up it was pouring rain so we just went to Blue Bell instead. (Which we were going to do anyway!) Thank you for all the support. Can't wait to see everyone. My grandma would be happy to announce that were down to 30 weeks :P Love y'all -Elder John M. Gilbert

Note from Mom - Didn't have the heart to tell him it's actually 31 more weeks. I think it has something to do with his two weeks in the MTC instead of three, so he will be out 105 weeks instead of 104... Or maybe it's when the transfers happen so he comes home a week later...? Anyway, we think he'll be home the first week in November .
Hang in there Elder Gilbert - we love you!!! ❤

20 March 2017 - Week 73

Crazy week. So Thursday we had interviews with the mission president. He said there are only like 2 missionaries coming to the mission this transfer so not a lot of changes are happening for the next few months. Our Zone went to the zoo last week! It was pretty cool. I've wanted to go to the zoo my entire mission!! It's a smaller zoo but still cool! We had to drop 2 investigators last week because they weren't keeping commitments, and didn't really seem to care. It's so frustrating.... We drove up to Birmingham with my boy Mezz which was fun. Got to see the city again, it's been awhile. Today we woke up early, and went out to work on the deck some more. We added the railing to one side of it. Then we had to leave so there's still more to do. We had to leave because we had to head home to get our apt. Inspected. Fun, I know.. Then we went to blue bell afterward. Comin' up on 17 months! Thanks for all the support form everyone! Love y'all!!!

  -Elder John M. Gilbert

27 Feb, 6 Mar, 13 Mar 2017 - Weeks 70, 71, & 72

Good week, not a lot to talk about this week. The branch got a new implant (Brother Perry) to be the clerk. We lost another investigator this week....but hopefully he will come around. We had zone training this past week and zone conference this week. So lots of meetings. We went fishing! We found a lake like 5 min away from our house! My companion caught his first bass! I'm so proud of him! Thanks for all the support, sorry i don't have any exciting stories! We're just grindin'!
- Elder John M Gilbert 

21 February 2017 - Week 69

Cool week! So the transfer ends on Wed. Elder Standifird and I are staying together for another one! We are both super excited! The highlight of last week was we built a deck. There is a sister in our branch that had a deck once upon a time, but not anymore. She wasn't even able to get up to her front door. So Elder Standifird and I learned how to build a deck this week. And to be completely honest, we are super proud of it!! It turned out to be 12' x 16' and works great! We were able to keep teaching our investigator. She's had a few hiccups recently but she is still awesome and still progressing! Thanks for the letters and support! It's crazy how fast time is starting to wind down. Almost to 8 months! Thank you to everyone. Your missionary- Elder John M. Gilbert